Horror Vacui

In art, the Latin term horror vacui (fear of empty space) refers to the urge to fill a visual composition, leaving no areas empty. 

Exhibition planners often grapple with horror vacui. In modern art exhibitions, less so, but with most other types, it’s common.

Some members of exhibition teams believe empty space seems wrong and needs “fixing”, or that it squanders a valuable resource — or if one is Aristotle, that it’s just plain unnatural.

Beware the horror vacui!

Why?

1. Content is structured by the spaces in it. Without them, content loses hierarchy, and is harder to consume (see P.S. below).

2. Visitors are intimidated by content that lacks restful empty space.

3. Empty space makes adjacent content appear more valuable (e.g., upscale jewelry displays).

4. Content used to fill those “wrong” spaces is often the leftovers. So now it’s not only harder to understand — it’s also not as good.

Here’s the thing:
Beware the horror vacui! Good content needs plenty of empty space.

Warmly, 
Jonathan

P.S. Here’s that article again, but without the structural empty spaces of line breaks. (It could be worse: at least I left in word spaces.)

See?

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Beware the Horror Vacui! In art, the Latin term horror vacui (fear of empty space) refers to the urge to fill a visual composition, leaving no areas empty. Exhibition planners often grapple with horror vacui. In modern art exhibitions, less so, but with most other types, it’s common. Some members of exhibition teams believe empty space seems wrong and needs “fixing”, or that it squanders a valuable resource — or if one is Aristotle, that it’s just plain unnatural. Beware the horror vacui! Why? 1. Content is structured by the spaces in it. Without them, content loses hierarchy, and is harder to consume (see P.S. below). 2. Visitors are intimidated by content that lacks restful empty space. 3. Empty space makes adjacent content appear more valuable (e.g., upscale jewelry displays). 4. Content used to fill those “wrong” spaces is often the leftovers. So now it’s not only harder to understand — it’s also not as good. Here’s the thing: Beware the horror vacui! Good content needs plenty of empty space. Warmly, Jonathan P.S. Demonstration: here’s that same article again, but without the structural empty spaces of line breaks. (It could be worse: at least I left in word spaces.) See?